User blog:Matias Arana/JC: Done With Avatar, Blu-ray and Mountains of Madness
James Cameron's luminescent-but-lethal jungle world will get you one way or another. In case you missed Avatar the first time round, or wanted to see more, a Special Edition that's nine minutes longer is now in cinemas, but it doesn't end there. A new Blu-ray is coming in November with the original theatrical release, the extended special edition and yet another cut, this time with 16 minutes of extra footage. The reinstated scenes were raw and unfinished so the studio has spent millions getting all the special effects added. Cameron says that after this next Blu-ray release there will be no going back and tinkering with the movie again. He told Total Film: "I'm not going back to this. There's no revisiting this downstream and I don't see it coming back into theatres at all unless 20 years from now they want to do something and I'm a doddering old guy that can't stop them." Asked which of the three upcoming versions should be regarded as the definitive cut, he said: "I'm going to watch all three back to back, which I haven't done yet, and see but I would say the 16-minute version is not a version that I'd put in a broader marketplace, it's more for hyper-fans." He's next acting as a producer on Guillermo del Toro's 3D adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's novella At The Mountains of Madness, in which an Antarctic expedition discovers the ruins of an ancient civilisation and awakens hidden horrors. Cameron explained: "That's Guillermo's green project that he's wanted to make for years and years. He and I linked up on that just a few weeks ago and he wants it to be his next film and just charge right into it. As I'm in a lull right now, the timing's perfect." In a separate interview with Underwire, Cameron admitted he's normally not keen on being a producer but has made an exception in this instance: "I'm working with Guillermo because I enjoy his company, and a creative collaboration is something that we've talked about doing for a long time. "It's going to be an epically scaled horror film and we haven't seen anything like that in a really long time -- I guess since Aliens." He added: "The thing about Lovecraft is that he left a lot to the imagination. He never told you what they (the creatures) looked like. He managed to create a sense of creeping horror without specifics. "Guillermo brings an eye for design that is so original and so quirky and so steeped in the lore of movie design and horror design, but always fresh and unexpected. "Frankly, I just want to see what he comes up with and I want to enable the nuts and bolts of the production so he doesn't have to worry about that. I want to help him how to work in 3D." It was reported by Collider that "Universal wants James McAvoy to play the lead in the film, but del Toro wants Tom Cruise to star. Chris Pine's name was also being tossed around, but his busy schedule may be too packed." Cruise and del Toro had met before over a planned new Van Helsing film, with del Toro producing and Cruise set to star, but the project didn't happen. The lead role in At The Mountains of Madness is William Dyer, a professor of geology at the fictional Miskatonic University in Massachusetts and leader of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to Antarctica in 1930-31. He's also the narrator of the tale. Other characters include a graduate called Danforth who sees something that causes him to lose his sanity; engineering professor Frank H. Pabodie; biology expert Professor Lake; and physics expert Professor Atwood. They are all from Miskatonic University. It's been speculated that both Cruise and McAvoy may get roles in the film, which starts shooting in May 2011. Category:Blog posts